


Hare Today

by primeideal



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Reapers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:48:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27093802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/primeideal/pseuds/primeideal
Summary: There's a method to Luna's madness.
Relationships: Luna Lovegood/Harry Potter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29
Collections: Monster Cuties Flash 2020





	Hare Today

**Author's Note:**

  * For [textbookchoices](https://archiveofourown.org/users/textbookchoices/gifts).



Dumbledore's Army trickled out of the Room of Requirement in twos and threes. Lee and Angelina were arguing good-naturedly about Quidditch; Terry, Michael, and Anthony were worrying about O.W.L.s. Luna hung around idly, concentrating on the air where a few silver wisps had appeared when she was trying to create a Patronus.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked. He wouldn't be _embarrassed_ to be seen with her, exactly. Only, the way Umbridge and her Inquisitorial Squad roamed the halls, being seen with anyone beyond his normal circle of friends could be dangerous.

"Oh, yes," she said. "Just waiting for the room to empty out. I like to come in when no one else is using it, to have a place to study."

"Can't you work in your common room?"

"Well, I can," said Luna. "But some of the other students are quite rude. They take my things and call me names."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Harry. "It might...They might leave you alone if you didn't talk to them so much about some of the creatures that, er, that your father researches. People can get strange about things they don't understand."

"They think I'm mad," she said bluntly.

It was a more matter-of-fact assessment than he was used to hearing from her. "They think I'm lying about Voldemort, too, don't listen to them."

But Luna went on, "I don't mind. It's better than them thinking I want to kill them."

Harry couldn't help but laugh at the mental image, and Luna almost seemed offended, as if he should have thought she had it in her. "Sorry," he managed. "It's just--who would ever believe _that_?"

She stared at him as if cataloguing some fantastical creature. "How long have you been able to see Thestrals?"

"Er," said Harry. "Just this past year. Since Cedric got killed."

Luna nodded. "He got time-echoed, didn't he? Part of him came out of You-Know-Who's wand."

Harry froze. "How do _you_ know that?"

"Because," she said, as if she were telling the time, "I had to make sure his soul was properly _out_ of his body." And then she wasn't Luna anymore, or at least not the girl she'd been a moment ago; her face was gray and pockmarked like the surface of her namesake, and her skin crinkled like paper.

Harry tried to take this in stride. "I don't suppose that's one of McGonagall's new spells?"

"I'm a reaper," Luna said. "A bit young to be at it, but since my mum, er, moved on, I've been in charge. And what with He Who Must Not Be Named coming back, I have to be prepared for anything."

"I don't know what you're talking about. You chase after old geezers who've snuffed it and, what? Tell them to get a move on?"

"Most people know what they're doing just fine," said Luna. "It's only when complicated magic gets involved that it gets messy."

"Right," said Harry. "Well, stay away from me, why don't you."

"Do I have to?" Her voice was still a plaintive young girl's, even if the rest of her seemed like she'd been hewn from an ancient cliff. "I thought we were friends."

Harry resisted the urge to curse. "I mean, one scar is bad enough. I _hope_ Voldemort doesn't try to kill me any time soon. But if he does--you're better company than the Death Eaters, I suppose."

A glint of gold curved across the bottom of Luna's face, the trace of what might have been a smile. "I'll take that as a compliment."

* * *

Harry did not want to go to the end of term feast. What was he going to do, gloat as the Ministry's true believers admitted he was right? He wanted--needed--Sirius, but the Room of Requirement was locked to him, the magic he asked of it beyond even its power to reveal.

Or maybe it was just in use, because Luna stepped out of it, not seeming to know or care about the feast either. "Thank you," she said. "For letting us come."

It had not been "let" so much as "been compelled to by their insistence," Harry thought, but he was in no mood to argue. "You were very brave."

"He made it, you know. All the way."

"Course he did," said Harry. "Voldemort's probably halfway to bloody Albania by now, or wherever he goes on holiday."

"Not _him_ ," said Luna. "Sirius Black. Made it--across the Veil."

"How do you--" Harry began, but he was already remembering the other face she had shown him. "Were you in two places at once?"

"I suppose," she said. "It _is_ the Department of Mysteries, after all."

Well, he'd dreamed through Voldemort's eyes--her connection couldn't be much stranger. "You ought to have turned into that...thing when we were there. Frighten the Death Eaters."

"Did I frighten you when I did it? I'm sorry."

"No, no. It's just--different, that's all."

"Good." Luna smiled. "Daddy says I shouldn't show someone my secret face unless he's properly gallant. But he can be a little old-fashioned."

Harry blinked. "Is that a compliment?"

"Yes," she said. "I think you're quite honorable. And cute, for a human."

In spite of himself, Harry laughed. "Thanks."

She hugged him, and for a moment he was not sure if he was embracing arms of flesh or of rock--either way, he was held by something timeless. "Let's go down to the feast," said Luna. "We don't want to miss dessert."

"That," said Harry, "sounds brilliant."


End file.
